Category: Ian Ling-Stuckey

“People know that PNG is facing major cash flow difficulties. Almost every day we hear stories of public servants not being paid, government departments being locked out due to non-payment of rent, and delays in meeting payments for schools, health centres and private contractors. Indeed, at the start of this month, there was a leaked […]

“PNG is in a deep financial crisis. In such circumstances, it can be difficult to find a way out. Sometimes, going back to basics is the key – back to the fundamentals of good economic management leading to improvements in confidence. Better confidence can stimulate more investment and then higher growth and then more revenue […]

“PNG must learn to live within its means. PNG is seriously mishandling the explosion in its debt levels, the growth of interest payments as a share of its revenues, an annual debt rollover nearly equivalent to the entire national budget, and its lack of transparency about off-the-books debt. Debt is not bad if it is […]

“Getting PNG’s non-resource growth rate back to at least 5 per cent per annum requires more, better quality and better targeted investment in our country’s infrastructure. Recent years have seen massive real cuts in the government’s support for infrastructure of 51% between 2015 and 2018. This is a cause for PNG’s poor growth prospects from […]

“The Alternate Government welcomes more information being made available about resource revenues. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a very positive step forward. The release of the 2015 and 2016 reports shows the professionalism of the EITI Secretariat and the committee which supports them. Treasurer Abel’s support for the initiative is welcome, following in […]

“The recent survey of PNG’s CEO’s has once again highlighted foreign exchange shortages as the most significant problem facing businesses. Indeed, it was rated by an extraordinary 71 per cent as a first order issue, up from a still very high 60 per cent last year. It is time the government actually started to do […]

“The Alternative Government is increasingly concerned about the accuracy of numbers used in the budget. In his rushed and unscheduled budget speech to the Parliament on Tuesday 13 February 2018, it appears as if the Treasurer has told some fairy tales again to try and protect his political reputation. He is also going about fixing […]

“The Alternative Government welcomes the increased budget transparency efforts from the Treasury, Charles Abel. This includes the unexpected preliminary release of what actually happened in 2017 as well as paid advertisements for community input to the 2019 Budget Strategy. In Parliament on 13 February 2018, the Treasurer gave a speech on the 2017 Final Budget […]

“The Alternative Government welcomes the recently released international survey on budget transparency and Treasurer Abel’s commitment to budget open-ness and accountability. This is an excellent initiative led by the Institute of National Affairs in PNG. It is unfortunate that PNG’s score dropped from 55 out of 100 in 2015 down to 50 out of 100 […]

“The Alternative Government welcomes Prime Minister’s increasing engagement with PNG businesses and a renewed understanding that PNG must embrace the opportunities of the Indo-Pacific region. The Alternative Government also agrees that the key issues facing PNG businesses include on-going foreign exchange shortages, a lack of support for PNG’s small and medium-sized enterprises, a slowdown in […]